To the editor:

Our kids’ doctors give us good advice. Here’s what they tell us about caring for transgender kids: Affirming their gender identity and expression is the healthiest thing we can do. In other words, if our children tell us their gender identity doesn’t match their natal sex, our job as parents is to affirm and support them. This isn’t rocket science. It’s just good parenting and common sense: Support your kids.

Here’s the problem, though. Some Kansas legislators want to lock up pediatricians who provide gender-affirming care. These legislators believe that our pediatricians belong in prison if they follow the guidance of the American Academy of Pediatrics. They’ve introduced HB 2210 to try to turn that belief into law. We suggest you call your own representative and let them know what a bad idea that would be. Ask them to vote against it. Kids’ lives and well-being are at stake here.

Something else is at stake too. These lawmakers claim their Christian faith tells them our pediatricians belong in prison. As a people of faith and leaders in our own church, we find it really hard to follow their logic. We put our trust in Jesus Christ, who fiercely loved people whom others treated as outsiders. We also know firsthand the difference love and affirmation make in the lives of our LGBTQIA neighbors, no matter what age. We’ve seen it up close in our own congregation. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King called it the Beloved Community. We just call it church.

Valerie Miller-Coleman, senior pastor at Plymouth Church, Lawrence;

Caroline Lawson Dean, associate pastor at Plymouth;

Derrick Hurst, director of the Integrated Crisis Team, LMH Health